Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Wolves in Busch Gardens

W o l f V a l l e y

Most of us know gray wolves by their haunting calls and piercing eyes.
But take a closer look inside those eyes and you'll see one of Mother
Nature's most important yet misunderstood family members--one whose
future is now at risk. Learn about the wolf's fierce loyalty to its
pack, its irreplaceable role in the wild, and the role you can play to
help. One of Busch Gardens’ wolf trainers has started blogging about
her amazing experiences in the park’s Wolf Valley. Now anyone who’s
ever wondered what it’s like to be part of a wolf pack can read all
about it at their blog.

“Aww… the wolves are howling because they’re hungry.”

Actually, wolves howl as a social sign of
contentment. Howling is situational, but is very much a form of social
bonding. They will howl to relocate a lost pack mate, call the pack
together, ward off a rival pack or sometimes even just for fun and out
of excitement. But chances are if they are howling, they are looking for
more voices to join in. So next time you hear it, go ahead and howl
right back.

“If I fell down there they’d try to eat me, right?”

It is highly unlikely. Wolves don’t view
people as food. Out in the wild a wolf will flee from a human presence
up to a mile away. Since our wolves have been socialized, they don’t
fear people, however, they are very cautious of sudden or new things.
They would probably be startled and run away. If you were in there for a
prolonged period of time, they would probably be curious about your
hat, sunglasses, bag, etc. It is unlikely they would harm you, unless
they felt threatened or challenged.

“Are they basically big dogs since they are trained?”

That is absolutely false. You wouldn’t
consider a trained tiger to be a house cat, would you? Just because a
wild animal has been socialized and trained does not make it a domestic
animal. A tiger is still a tiger. And just because a wolf looks a lot
like a dog doesn’t make it any less of a wolf. Dogs have been bred for
thousands of years to co-exist with humans and view us as pack leaders –
they are basically eternal puppies. When a wolf puppy matures, it no
longer wants to submit to authority. It will challenge its pack mates
for rank and use aggression if necessary. A mature wolf will look for
weaknesses and even take out its own parents if it sees the opportunity.
This is hardwired into their biology. Do you want to be the parent that it takes out? I thought not.

How do we avoid this dilemma? Simple, we
are not pack mates. We never dominate the wolves; we never expect them
to want to please us. We never punish or discipline them. By not acting
as pack mates, they don’t feel the need to “steal” rank from us. We have
no rank. If you lived with a wolf, it would have no choice but to view
you as a pack mate.